Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 16:39:53 -0700 From: GLAAD Subject: GLAADAlert 01.03.97 GLAAD ALERT January 3, 1997 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Contents: 1. Hail to the Chiefs (Warner Brothers (Motion Picture Studio) My Fellow Americans (Film)) 2. African-American Gay Community Makes Kwanzaa Its Own (San Francisco Examiner (Newspaper)) 3. Lesbian and Gay Parenting Catches Up with the Times (Los Angeles Times (Newspaper)) 4. In the Life with the Washington Post (The Washington Post (Newspaper), In The Life (Television News Program)) 5. American Greetings' Card Chooses "Poor" Punch line (Carlton Cards/ American Greetings (Greeting Card Company)) 6. HBO Drops the Ball on Cross-Dressing Hoover Movie (HBO (Television Cable Channel),"Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover" (Book, Proposed Television Movie)) 1. Hail to the Chiefs In the current Warner Brothers movie My Fellow Americans, lesbians and gay men play a vital role in saving the lives of two former presidents. James Garner (as the Democrat) and Jack Lemmon (as the Republican) portray the two former leaders who are forced to go on the run after the cover-up of a scandal involving the current president (Dan Akroyd), and leads to attempts to assassinate the two. At one point, Lemmon and Garner duck into what turns out to be a West Virginia gay pride parade to escape the bad guys. When one of the parade participants (who is in a marching band entirely made up of drag versions of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz) befriends them, he arranges for a group of Dykes on Bikes to take them to safety. At the end of the ride, a lesbian gives Lemmon a freedom ring (gay pride) necklace, and Lemmon notes that after spending time with the lesbians, he has rethought the issue of gays in the military and thinks that "the military could probably use several of those women." Later in the film, the Marching Dorothy heroically returns. Please let Warner Brothers know that their non-exploitative and jovial inclusion of lesbians and gay men in My Fellow Americans is appreciated. Contact: Robert A. Daly, Chairman and Co-CEO, and Terry Semel, Chairman and Co-CEO, Warner Brothers, 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California 91522. 2. African-American Gay Community Makes Kwanzaa Its Own A page-two story on Kwanzaa in the December 27 San Francisco Examiner focuses attention on the fifth annual Kwanzaa celebration organized by Lesbians & Gays of African Descent for Democratic Action (LGADDA). Calling for Unity, the first of seven social principles celebrated during Kwanzaa, LGADDA Chair Ron Hypolite said the event was an effort to bridge the gap between straight and gay people in the black community. "I wanted people to see we are whole, complete people," Hypolite said, referring to a chasm created three years ago when a local African-American reverend denounced homosexuality as an "abomination against God." Hypolite took heart in the attendance of clergy members at LGADDA's event, including the pastor of the largest African-American church in San Francisco. By presenting a prominent article on this particular Kwanzaa celebration, the Examiner has helped to highlight that there is room for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members of the African-American community. Well-rounded and diverse Kwanzaa coverage promotes greater understanding and inclusion of the community that celebrates the holiday. Please commend the Examiner for including LGADDA's celebration in their Kwanzaa and holiday coverage. Contact: Phil Bronstein, Editor in Chief, San Francisco Examiner, 110 Fifth Street, San Francisco, CA 94111, fax: 415.512.1264, e-mail: sfexaminer@examiner.com. 3. Lesbian and Gay Parenting Catches Up with the Times Following an excellent article on the cultural and legal challenges of being a lesbian or gay parent, the December 26 Los Angeles Times airs both sides of the gay parenting issue via dueling pro-con essays. Susan Carpenter McMillan, television commentator and spokesperson for the apparently conservative Woman's Coalition, claims that though she knows, loves and respects her lesbian cousin and cousin's partner of 15 years, the possibility of this or any gay couple legally adopting a child "is not only harmful to the child but also to society." She attributes this to lesbian and gay "selfishness." Robert Dawidoff, co-author of Created Equal: Why Gay Rights Matter to America, counters her "selfishness" argument with his observation that many lesbian and gays have "suppressed our own lives in order to be devoted parents, uncles and aunts, siblings and children." Regardless of the Times position on gay parenting, they have allowed for dissenting opinions which speak for themselves. McMillan illogically bases her anti-gay parenting stance on the biological necessity of "two-sex ingredients essential in parenting." Dawidoff points out many children are raised successfully without the presence of both biological parents and "the proof of family values is how the family treats its own." Tell the Times that you value their willingness to discuss a sensitive subject. Thank them for publishing Dawidoff's intelligent and realistic gay parenting essay. Contact: Shelby Coffey, Editor-in-Chief, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, fax: 213.237.4712, email: letters@latimes.com. 4. In the Life with the Washington Post The December 22 edition of the Washington Post featured an article entitled "In the Life Struggles for Respect," which highlighted the growing success and struggles of the highly respected program about gay and lesbian issues and culture. "For five years, In the Life has struggled to keep a toehold on PBS station schedules across the country. Some, like WETA [in Washington, D.C.], carried the show about gay and lesbian issues and culture from the beginning, but tucked it into late-night time slots," the article begins. "The program has persisted, despite a sometimes-hostile political environment, and has even, in the case of WETA, received a better timeslot." The article mentions some of the financial hardships and budgetary constraints on the show, as well as the program's being targeted by anti-gay politicians as a reason to attack public broadcasting funding. Finally, it ends by noting the importance of the show to its estimated 1.5 million viewers nationwide. "Except for a few characters on broadcast series, and a flurry of interest over whether Ellen DeGeneres' character will come out on Ellen, (In the Life) is one of the few to provide viewing about gays and lesbians to people in smaller towns and cities," the story notes. Please thank the Washington Post for an interesting feature on In the Life, the many hurdles that the independent lesbian and gay program continues to overcome and its importance to the population at large. Contact: Leonard Downie, Editor-in-Chief, The Washington Post, 1150 15th Street, NW, Washington, D.C., 20071, e-mail: webnews@washpost.com. 5. American Greetings' Card Chooses "Poor" Punch line Carlton Cards, a division of American Greetings, defames gay and bisexual men in a recent birthday card. The cover of the card features an unhappy birthday boy and carries the message: "BIRTHDAY WARNING...Never try to save money by reusing candles that have already been wished on...or you might get someone else's wish. Take poor Norman here...." The inside caption reads "...He lost 25 pounds, got skinny thighs, has no facial hair, and gets asked out by cute guys all the time! Happy Birthday." This supposedly humorous card warns us that "poor" sad Norman should be unhappy with his second-hand birthday wish. Playing on the banal supposition that poor Norman received something undesirable like getting "asked out by cute guys" is unfunny and homophobic. Write Carlton Cards/American Greetings and tell them your birthday wish is that they stop making lesbian and gay Americans bear the brunt of their decidedly un-American greetings. Contact: Sue Holiday, Consumer Affairs, American Greetings, 1 American Rd, Cleveland, OH 44144 or fax her at 216.252.6493. 6. HBO Drops the Ball on Cross-Dressing Hoover Movie According to Variety, HBO has temporarily halted production of a movie portraying the late FBI director J. Edgar Hoover as a cross-dresser who had an affair with his right-hand man Clyde Tolson. Unable to resolve these issues brought out in Anthony Summers book "Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover," the basis for HBO's movie, HBO sources say the production has been moved "from the front to the middle burner," though the network officially declined comment. Summers maintains that he has a "library full of documents and 800 taped interviews" to substantiate his assertions regarding Hoover's sexuality. Please encourage HBO to develop and produce this story. Contact: Jeff Bewkes, President and CEO, HBO, 1100 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036, fax: 212.512.5517; WWW feedback form: http://www.hbo.com/cmp/feedback.html. The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. GLAAD is the lesbian and gay news bureau and the only national lesbian and gay multimedia watchdog organization. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation as a means of challenging all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. Copies of articles referred to in the GLAADAlert are available to our members by contacting GLAAD. Contact GLAAD by e-mail at glaad@glaad.org or by phone at 213.658.6775 (Los Angeles), 212.807.1700 (New York), 413.586.8928 (Northampton), 202.986.1360 (Washington, DC) or 415.861.2244 (San Francisco). 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